Desires of the Heart
by Ravenclaw.owl736
Summary: 'The thing that caused me so much grief was my last name. I know, kind of stupid when you think about it right? Yeah, well when you have the last name of a former DeathEater and your father is said DeathEater that's what you get I suppose.'
1. Chapter 1

It was inevitable that wherever I went to school the pupils weren't going to be queueing up for position of my best friend. So it was no surprise when the girls at Beauxbatons tried to act as if I didn't exist, not even hiding their looks of disgust. It didn't help that I was different to them too. For starters I wasn't French and I had no trace of Veela blood from either side of my parentage. Suffice to say I stuck out like a sore thumb.

But the thing that caused me so much grief was my last name. I know, kind of stupid when you think about it right? Yeah, well when you have the last name of a former DeathEater and your father is said DeathEater that's what you get I suppose.

My name is Maeve (Maeve Rebecca Avery to be precise). It's an awful name choice if you ask me but I still thank my lucky stars that I got off lightly, as my parents had quite the habit of choosing weird names. My siblings weren't quite so lucky. There's five of us in total. My brothers, Link (short for Lincoln if you're wondering), Zain and Grey - yes like the colour – then there's my sister…

Anyway, it was two weeks before school started again and I was sat cross-legged on my bed listening to music while trying to decide which nail polish to use – blood red or a dark green – when my mother shouted at me from the end of the hallway.

"Maeve," I cringed. Only my mother called me by my full first name any more and she knows how much I hate it. She carried on calling me that to get at me, it was like a constant reminder of the past. As if I could forget. "Get down here, I have to tell you something."

"What?" I sighed dejectedly as there was no reply. I actually had to go downstairs, so I trudged down into the living room to find my two younger brothers already sat on one of the sofas. My mother sat primly on the opposite one, meaning I had the choice of sitting next to her or in the single chair. The latter seemed more appealing. I plonked myself down just as she started to speak.

"Maeve, kind of you to join us." There was so much sarcasm laced into her words that I had to hold back a bitter laugh. I knew she thought the family would be better off without me, so obviously she didn't ever want my presence unless it was urgent. "Now as you know your father is getting out soon." _Yes, we all knew that. It's not like we heard her screaming about it to everyone who gave her the chance… _In fact mother made it clear of her distain for father when he wasn't around. I might even say the distaste for him was almost as bad as it was for me. Almost. But she'd never tell him that. Oh no, mother wouldn't have the guts to do that.

That's another reason why we didn't get along. I thought of her as a coward. If she loathed father that much then why wouldn't she tell him? She was too scared to lead a happier life without him. I let her know exactly what I thought, suffice to say she did not like that. Not one bit. Once he came back she'd only get worse.

"So, I've come to the conclusion that it's safer to move you all. Especially you." Her gaze lingered on me pointedly as she said this. Father and I had a bad history. But I couldn't just run away. That would make me no better than her.

She noticed my hesitation and as I was going to protest she interrupted me. "No. Don't say you're not going. Think about what happened last time. Do you want that to happen to your younger brothers too? Do you? Because if I were you I certainly wouldn't. Or do you want two more sets of lives weighing on your shoulders? You think you're powerful with that kind of responsibility? You and your brothers will be better off there. Then you don't have to worry about him finding you. I can keep him occupied here long enough for you to get yourselves sorted." That wasn't true. I wanted to keep them safe, I just knew it was only postponing the matter at hand.

Then again, maybe it was easier for us to settle and lay low somewhere else for a while. "Where are we going?" I asked grudgingly. When she'd said that to me I could do nothing but agree. She smirked because she knew she'd hit a sensitive topic. I didn't want to be reminded of that day but yet mother used it to manipulate me.

"You're all are going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, for about a year depending on the situation back here. It's the securest magic school in the world, you'll be completely safe there." I gasped, that was where Harry Potter and Voldemort had their final showdown. Wow… But it was...

"That's in London!" I exclaimed. "We can't be going to England! It's…" I didn't really know what that was. I had no clue what to say. Luckily Zain jumped in with a flurry of questions.

"Why have we got to go? Is it because of Dad? Isn't England far away? Will you be coming mum?" At this mother shook her head and cast her eyes towards the window.

"Zain honey, I can't come with you. I love you and Grey so, so much. You know I would come if I could but I have to keep you safe." My stomach clenched into a knot. Mum told Zain and Grey she loved them but never to me. She hadn't said 'I love you' to me in a very long time.

"B-But I don't want to!" Grey suddenly whined, looking at mother and then Zain with tears in his eyes. "Zain tell mum you don't want to go."

"Now, stop being so childish. You will be going to Hogwarts with your sister and that is the end of it!" Mother's voice was rising quickly. Then she instantly looked reproachful as Grey burst into a loud set of tears.

"I love you mum. I don't want to go."

"I know Honey but you have to leave, for your own well-being. We can't have anything happening to you and Zain now can we? Come here sweetie." Mother opened her arms for Grey to give him a hug and Zain followed on with an 'I don't want to go either mum'. They both cuddled with her sobbing every minute or so while I retreated back to my room.

"Maeve!" I turned to face my mother, with a small glimmer of hope. I know we had our differences but did she love me too? "Do not screw up this time." I gave a nod of my head, then moved into the shadows and up to my bedroom my heart as heavy as before. Suddenly the prospect of Hogwarts didn't seem as terrible after all.

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Please tell me what you think and leave reviews thanks xoxo


	2. Chapter 2

_Hey guys_! _I'm so sorry this update took so long, I've been super busy. Anyway I hope that it's worth the wait. :) _

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Chapter Two:

The big day finally came and I'd decided to go back on what I thought about Hogwarts not being so bad. It was going to be awful.

The boys had already gone through the Floo network that had been specially connected to our house and the school when mother began speaking to me. "Remember to look after your brothers. Keep them out of harm's way." She said. "And the Headmistress also said something about a sorting." I of course already knew about the houses, for 'The-Boy-Who-Lived-Twice' had been in Gryffindor. It was how you got sorted that worried me.

"Okay." I said in as bored a voice as I could manage. I wasn't happy at the prospect of leaving for Hogwarts. To me it was just another place where more people in the world would end up hating me or making fun of me. However I couldn't wait to get away from that 'home'.

"And Maeve, one last thing." She paused as if it was for dramatic effect. "You'll all be taking my maiden name, so as to keep your real identity hidden." Oh how wonderful… This made me feel even closer to my darling mother. – note the sarcasm? Good. - At least I wouldn't be known as the daughter of one of the soulless DeathEater and nobody would make assumptions about my life… Would they?

Before I could even say a word floo powder was shoved into my hand and I was pushed towards the fire. Gulping I stepped into the fireplace. Shouting 'Hogwarts' while chucking powder over myself and trying not to cough from the smoke was a difficult task. I must've done it though as green flames engulfed me and a split second later I was falling.

"Argh!"

The good news: I fell onto something soft. The bad news: The thing I landed on was a person.

"Ouch, fuck." The body underneath me grumbled in annoyance, judging by the low voice the person was a boy.

"Ugh." I felt disorientated as I stood up and brushed myself off. The boy got to his feet too, moaning about how heavy I was. He was quite a bit taller than me, with bright blue eyes and brown hair modelled into a quiffs.

"If you're going to jump me, how about giving me some warning first? I know I'm irresistible but seriously, you could scare a guy."

"Excuse you?" Glaring at him I carried on speaking. "You're not irresistible to me. How could you be when I hadn't even met you? Now that I have, I doubt that I'd have touched you voluntarily with a ten foot long stick, much less jump you." I said, using my fingers to create quotation marks in the air when saying the word 'jump'.

"Ahem." Someone behind me cleared their throat. Startled I turned. It was a Professor. Greying hair and wrinkles were the only features I could make out in the dim light. "Miss Knight I presume." She continued speaking without giving me chance to answer. "You are to follow me down to the Great Hall, the Sorting's of the first years are about to start and you'll be joining them. Your brothers are already there. And you…" She paused, moving her gaze to the boy next to me and giving him a stare even I would've been afraid of. "You're supposed to be at the Great Hall. Why weren't you with the rest of your year waiting amongst the carriages? No, in fact don't answer that. I don't want to know. Just stay out of trouble this year. I don't want to hear of you and your accomplice getting up to mischief again."

"Sure thing, Prof. I'll be as good as gold." I doubt the Professor believed him, I sure didn't.

"It's Headmistress to you." So she was the Head? Okay, that made sense. She didn't seem at all irritated by the boy's words though, more amused than anything. "Now come on both of you. Follow me."

***

We stopped in front of two massive wooden doors. They were shaped in arcs that swooped up from the floor. I figured we'd arrived at the Great Hall

"Right ladies, this is unfortunately where I leave you." Thank Merlin. He strutted off into the hall, leaving me and the Professor standing at the entrance.

"Come on Mae, you can do this." I muttered under my breath.

"Miss Knight, don't be nervous. I'm sure you'll settle in just fine." With that she led me into the Hall, telling me where to stand. Nobody noticed me as I slipped passed the four long tables to stand with the first years as I'd been instructed.

I spotted my brothers huddled together at the back of the group. They both looked terrified. I moved over to them, caught their attention and crouched down by them.

"Hey, Zain. Grey." I struggled to find the right words. "You'll be fine. I'll be right there, and you're sure to make new friends. You probably won't want your big sister cramping your style, but I've promised to look after you so that's what I'm going to do. And honestly, what type of sister would I be if I didn't look after my two favourite family members, eh?"

"I don't like this." Zain stated. He looked so meek and sad, I felt highly guilty. This was my mess, and they were paying for it too.

I rubbed Zain's arm. "I know, but it'll be fine." Would it? "We'll just stick together until we can go home, yeah?" I watched as both of them nodded. Maybe if I said it over and over again to them then I'd start to believe it too. I got up, just as the Headmistress addressed the pupils gathered in the Hall.

"Welcome! To all the students who are back for another year and to those of you who are new this year, we're sure you'll all work very hard and have a wonderful school year with us! Now onto the sorting." Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I watched as a scruffy, dishevelled wizards hat was placed onto a rickety stool. You can imagine my surprise as it began to sing.

***  
So what do you think? I'm on my phone so if you spot any mistakes please let me know. Are there any improvements that could be made? Which house do you think they'll be placed into?


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